Quinnipiac Overwhelmed by Dartmouth
HANOVER, N.H. -- The Quinnipiac University men's hockey team lost to Dartmouth College, 7-2, in an ECAC Hockey League game played Friday. The loss is Quinnipiac's first to an ECAC Hockey team since Nov. 30, 2007 when they lost to Union, 4-3, in Hamden, Conn. The Bobcats slip to 17-8-4 overall and 9-4-4 in ECAC Hockey play. Dartmouth improves with the win to 9-11-4 overall and 4-10-3 in ECAC Hockey action.
Dartmouth's seven unanswered goals were the most against Quinnipiac this season and the most since the Bobcats' 6-3 loss at Brown last season on Feb. 3, 2007.
Greg Holt (Mt. Sinai, N.Y.) put the Bobcats out in front early in the game, scoring on a wrist shot from outside the right face-off circle at the 7:43 mark. Ben Nelson (Spokane, Wash.) took a shot from in front of the net that rang off the post and trickled out to Holt. Holt's shot bounced off the skate of a Dartmouth defenseman and past the Big Green's Mike Devine in goal.
Dan Travis (Wilton, N.H.) scored his 11th goal of the season with 7:40 remaining in the first period. Brandon Wong (Victoria, B.C.) handled the puck behind the left face-off circle in Dartmouth's zone before passing it out to Dan Henningson (Edmonton, Alb.) at the blue line. Henningson's blast ricocheted off of Devine's leg to the right of the goal. Travis, then to the left of Devine, skated across the crease and scored around Devine to the goalie's right. Wong picks up his team-leading 21st assist of the season while Henningson converts on his 17th of the year. The goal also marks the third straight game that Travis has scored.
Dartmouth would score three times in the second period to take a 3-2 lead after two periods. The Big Green cut the Quinnipiac lead in half at the 7:32 mark of the second period when Josh Gilliam scored on assists from Andrew Owsiak and Joe Gaudet on the power play. The goal was Gilliam's sixth of the season while Owsiak and Gaudet pick up their fourth and second assists, respectively.
Dartmouth's second goal of the period came with just over six minutes to play in the second period. Kyle Reeds scored his seventh goal of the season on a delayed penalty. Reeds flipped a shot over the shoulder of Quinnipiac goalie Bud Fisher (Peterborough, Ont.). Reeds was assisted on the goal by Jon Grecu and Nick Johnson.
Dartmouth's third goal of the game came with 2:15 remaining in the second period when Scott Fleming's shot found the top right hand corner of the goal, just out of reach of Fisher. The assists on the play went to Johnson and Joe Stejskal.
Dartmouth scored their fourth unanswered goal of the game with just under 18 minutes to play in the third period. Gilliam passed from the right flank to Owsiak on the right of the goal. Owsiak then found Gaudet on the other side of the goal who slipped it past Fisher on the wraparound to give Dartmouth a two-goal lead in the third period.
Owsiak scored with 6:55 remaining in the game to give Dartmouth a 5-2 lead. Owsiak was unassisted on the play after he intercepted a pass in Quinnipiac's defensive zone. Owsiak skated past two Quinnipiac defenseman and beat Fisher to the top left corner of the net.
The goal ended Fisher's night as he was lifted in favor of freshman Pat McGann (Evergreen Park, Ill.). Fisher finished with 32 saves.
Dartmouth added two more goals late in the period by Grecu on assists by Reeds and Johnson to give the Big Green a 6-2 lead. Fleming scored his second goal of the night on Stejskal's third assist of the night. Peter Boldt also picked up an assist on the play.
Quinnipiac returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 16 when they face Harvard at 7 p.m. at the Bright Hockey Center in Cambridge, Mass.
